The Corvette StingRay Racer was designed by Bill Mitchell, GM Vice President of styling, and Larry Shinoda in 1959. The basis of the Stingray was an engineering test mule chassis for the foundation of an official Chevrolet race effort culminating with the 24 Hours of LeMans. But, soon after its race debut, the Automobile Manufacturer's Association had banned manufacturer-sponsored racing, and the SS had been relegated to test track duty.

The Stingray featured a 92-inch wheelbase and was nearly 1,000 lb lighter than a 1960 production car. Its fuel-injected 283-cubic-inch (4.6-liter) V-8 engine produced 315 hp at 6,200 rpm. Billed as a car 'built to test handling ease and performance,' Mitchell arranged to race the car quite extensively. In the hands of Dr. Dick Thompson, it made its debut at Maryland's Marlboro Raceway on April 18, 1959, finishing in fourth place. It went on to win an SCCA National Championship in 1960.

The Stingray was then retired from racing and modified by Mitchell. A passenger seat was added, among other things, and it was exhibited as an experimental show car even while Mitchell regularly drove it personally on weekends.

The Stingray's body design strongly influenced the styling of the next generation Corvette (1963). It also was a test bed for many technical developments with a four-speed manual transmission, extensive use of aluminum and a de Dion rear suspension.

Because of its SS underpinnings, the Stingray was exceptionally light, with a dry weight of 2,200 pounds. The car today has a 327 Cubic inch (5.4 liter), fuel-injected V-8 with 375 BHP.

Roadster

Bill Mitchell loved Corvettes, so it's fitting that his first secret Studio X car, and perhaps the most historically significant, was his 1959 Corvette Stingray Racer.

'I knew they had three or four chassis that Corvette Chief Engineer Zora Arkus- Duntov had built,' Mitchell told historian David Chippen in a 1985 interview. 'It had a tubular frame, de Dion suspension, inboard brakes, everything! And I went down in the hammer room and designed this Corvette Stingray in clay. Nobody in the corporation knew about it.'

According to the book, A Century of Automotive Style, by Mike Lamm and Dave Holls, junior designers Peter Brock and Chuck Pohlman won an internal sketch competition to design its body. Then Pohlman and Corvette Lead Designer Larry Shinoda crafted the clay model, then a fiberglass roadster body that was mated to the racing chassis.

In 1960, driven primarily by Chicago dentist Dr. Dick Thompson, it won the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) C-Modified class championship. More importantly, it introduced the folded-crease styling that would become a trademark of Mitchell's 1960's designs and the beginning of the path to his revolutionary 1963 production Corvette Stingray. 'When it came time to face-lift the Corvette,' he told Crippen, 'I took the lines right off that car.'

132 Mazda Racers Looking to Score Gold in Racings Biggest Club EventOctober 7, 2014 (IRVINE, Calif.) — Now in its 51st year, there is no bigger road racing club event than the annual SCCA National Championship Runoffs. Mazda racers have scored 81 Championships at the Runoffs since 1977. Making this years' competition even sweeter for the Mazda racers is the venue, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. This will be the first time since 1968 that the Runoffs have been held on the West Co...[Read more...]

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 24, 2014) - Hurley Haywood, winner of more endurance classics than any other driver in racing history, was honored by the Road Racing Drivers Club with the 2014 Phil Hill Award. RRDC president Bobby Rahal presented Haywood with the award at a dinner prior to the running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the season opener of the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.
The Phil Hill Award has been presented annually since 1993 to the person who the RRDC feels has re...[Read more...]

• LOCAL RACERS ARE NOT IN IT FOR THE MONEY AS THE WEATHERTECH® CHICAGO REGION SCCA JUNE SPRINTS® RETURN TO ROAD AMERICA
ELKHART LAKE, Wis., June 10, 2013 - The tradition for many local SCCA racers around this time of year is something like this, they leave their job early on a Friday, load up their race car, parts and tools into a trailer, grab a cooler of food and hit the road for one of the nation's premier amateur sports car racing events at Road America.
Their ultima...[Read more...]

Zora Arkus-Duntov's racing-bred development legacy continues to improve Corvette
It's been said that racing improves the breed, and when it comes to the Chevrolet Corvette, nearly six decades of checkered flags are the proof. As Corvette marks its 60th anniversary in 2013, the design of the chassis, suspension and other drivetrain features are rooted in the rigors of competition.
'Candidly, Corvette was not a high-performance car until Zora Arkus-Duntov fitted it with a V-8, and be...[Read more...]

It has been 62 years since racers tore through the streets of this tiny village about 60 miles north of Milwaukee. Still, every spring you would swear that the town speed limit doesn't exist when the sounds of historic racecars from days gone by seem to echo throughout the hillside. May 18-20 the Spring Vintage Weekend returns to Road America and kicks-off the start of a summer full of racing, from vintage and historic cars to motorcycles and even NASCAR.
Racing came to Elkhart Lake in 1950...[Read more...]